# The Last of Us (HBO series)

21 Hacker News commenters recommended The Last of Us (HBO series) and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Praised as a prestige drama that rewards fans of the game, though many found season 2 weaker, with its departures from the game's structure and casting gap drawing criticism.

## Why people recommend it

- Acclaimed prestige HBO drama (6 comments): "HBO still makes highly regarded prestige TV series (The Last Of Us, Task, etc)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46160913)) "the first season of The Last of Us was actually better than I expected" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49469353)) "Pick anything The White Lotus, Euphoria, The Last of Us, Peacemaker." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46158485))

## What people warn about

- Became a soap opera, lost core audience (2 comments): "They forgot their core audience (gamers, horror, fans of post-apocalyptic themes) and tried to make it a soap opera that appeals to everyone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49468300)) "they forgot their core audience (gamers, horror, fans of post-apocalyptic themes) and tried to make it a soap opera that appeals to everyone" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48805854))
- Season 2 weaker, age gap, departures (3 comments): "season 2 was ok. it followed the 2nd game pretty closely. The problem was the age gap, and the cast just didnt match that jump" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49468382)) "They didn't follow the chronology and structure from the second game and it suffered because of it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50231696)) "Season 2 was terrible, I'm not sure I even finished it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49468553))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Halt and Catch Fire](https://hackerapproved.com/p/halt-and-catch-fire.md): 166 recommend
- [Babylon 5](https://hackerapproved.com/p/babylon-5.md): 86 recommend
- [Silicon Valley (TV series)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/silicon-valley.md): 52 recommend
- [Andor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/andor.md): 52 recommend
- [The Wire](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wire.md): 39 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Last of Us (HBO series)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/last-of-us/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).